


Tented

by FestiveFerret



Series: Held [43]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, Sappiness, Sweet & Domestic, Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-03
Updated: 2017-10-03
Packaged: 2019-01-08 10:41:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12252696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FestiveFerret/pseuds/FestiveFerret
Summary: “I can’t believe I let you talk me into this,” Tony grumbled for the nine millionth time.Steve grinned at him and tossed the tent bag on a nice, flat-looking spot. “You’re going to love it.”





	Tented

“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this,” Tony grumbled for the nine millionth time.

Steve grinned at him and tossed the tent bag on a nice, flat-looking spot. “You’re going to love it.”

“I’m going to love you,” Tony mumbled. “Everything else is suspect.”

“Hey, you’re the one that said I could pick our next trip.” Steve slipped up behind him and wrapped his arms around Tony’s waist. “Also, I brought marshmallows.”

Tony’s weight settled back against Steve, but he crossed his arms over his chest. Then he sighed, gave in. “Okay, I’ll love those too.” Steve pressed a kiss to his cheek then unpacked the foldable chairs and installed Tony in one while he worked on the tent.

It had taken them most of the day to get all the way out to the middle of nowhere, so it wasn’t long before the sun dipped threateningly low and they started talking dinner. Steve made for the firepit, but Tony stopped him, proclaiming that this was the _one_ thing he’d be doing on this trip because he was so damn good at starting fires.

“Don’t I know it,” Steve quipped back. “Why do you think DUM-E follows you around everywhere with an extinguisher?”

Tony pouted and threw the barbeque lighter at Steve who caught it, laughing, and tossed it back. True to his word, ten minutes later, a merry blaze was crackling in the pit.

They cooked potatoes over the fire, covering them in cheese before eating them right out of the foil. As the sun set, Tony began grumbling about cold and mosquitoes and marched off towards the car. Steve was just starting to worry that Tony had decided to hide out for the rest of the weekend, when he reappeared, swimming in one of Steve’s hoodies and reeking of bug spray.

Tony grumbled to himself as he stomped past and Steve reached out and grabbed his arm, halting his progress. He tugged until Tony gave in and tipped down, sitting sideways across Steve’s lap, with his legs hanging over the chair’s arm. Steve tucked Tony against his chest and slid one hand into the wide front pocket of the hoodie, flat against Tony’s stomach. “Can I toast you a marshmallow?” he asked.

Tony sniffed and snuggled deeper into Steve’s lap. “If you must.”

Steve chuckled and lifted the bag of marshmallows and a stick from beside his chair. He held the stick out, close enough that Tony remained settled on his lap as he turned the treat over the hot coals. When it was evenly brown on all sides, he pulled it back and held it out towards Tony. Tony plucked it off the stick, leaving a glob of gooey, melted sugar behind, and popped it in his mouth.

“Another?” Steve asked, and Tony gave him a _duh_ look, still chewing. Steve speared another marshmallow and sent it out over the fire.

“You can have the next one, if you want.” Tony sucked the sweet fluff off the ends of his fingers, distracting Steve momentarily.

“Hmm? No that’s okay. I don’t like them.”

“You don’t -? You only brought them for me?”

“Yeah.” Steve rotated his stick, focused now on getting an even toasting. He knew Tony was staring at him, but he didn’t acknowledge it. Tony still didn’t seem used to Steve doing nice things for him out of the bedroom, and Steve had found the best thing to do was to ignore his weird reactions, and let Tony get accustomed to it on his own. No doubt he was used to being the person who bought presents and sent a private jet and ordered special food he knew his date would like, but it seemed people rarely did that kind of thing for him. Steve wasn’t much for a private jet, but he could pamper Tony in his own way.

He held out another golden marshmallow, waiting until Tony pulled his gaze from Steve’s face to grab the candy and put it in his mouth.

They stayed out until the fire died too low to warm them, and the smoke weakened enough to let the bugs find them again. Steve immediately felt the loss when Tony climbed out of the their shared chair, but looked forward to huddling together in the tent all night instead.

The fire doused and the food put away, they crawled inside the tent and shucked their clothes before tucking into their large, double sleeping bag. Tony flicked off the flashlight, plunging them into darkness, then curled up against Steve, rubbing chilled feet against his calves.

The air was crisp, despite the hot day they’d had, and it smelled like pine trees and wood smoke. Crickets buzzed, and far away there must be water because Steve could make out the soft _plunk plunk_ of a bullfrog looking for a mate. Nature all around them, coupled with the flapping of the tent and the press of a naked body against his, sent Steve rocketing back to another time, another life.

“It was like this sometimes,“ he said quietly. Tony must have sensed Steve meant something more than that because he stayed silent, though his hand tightened against Steve’s side - a grounding presence. “We would hike through the mud all day in hopes of doing some kind of good, finding a HYDRA camp, or liberating POWs, but it didn’t always turn out well. We’d end up back at some half-washed out camp, dirty and frustrated and hungry.

“We’d eat crappy food, and not enough of it, but then the sun would set and we’d manage a fire, if we could, and sometimes the guys would sing, or tell stories. And I - we’d go back to our tent - out there no one cared who you were sharing with - and we were tired and sore, but we could take some time to get lost in each other…” Steve trailed off, the memories a twisted sculpture of sadness and bittersweet nostalgia and skin-tingling heat.

And now he was here, but it wasn’t hard roots against his back, it was the world’s most expensive air mattress. And his feet weren’t a mess of angry blisters that would heal by morning only to be rubbed raw again. And the man in his arms was real and alive and _Tony,_ and he knew he’d never loved anything the way he loved him. Heat pooled in his core, suddenly wound up and vibrating with the _here_ and _aliveness_ of this day. “You know…“ He scraped his nails across the soft skin of Tony’s stomach. “There are benefits to this whole camping thing.”

Tony made an amused noise against Steve’s shoulder. “Really? What might those be?”

“Well, for one, there’s no one around for miles. No one to _hear_ anything.”

Tony shifted, tensed. Steve could feel his body responding to the thought. Tony’s fingers laced through Steve’s. “Has that ever stopped you before?”

“Maybe. A little.”

“Really? You can be even louder than you already are?” Steve could hear that Tony was grinning wickedly in the dark, and he rolled over until he lay half across Steve’s chest.

“Maybe. I mean, you’re the scientist, right? You should probably do some experimenting. Test it.” Steve gasped as Tony’s hand slid between his legs. “Who knows how loud I can be if I let go completely. You should, _uhh,_ should find out.” Tony had barely started touching him and he was already slipping into soft and open and needy. _“_ Yes, Tony, please touch me. I’ll scream for you. _Guh._ I’ll wake up this whole goddamn forest. Scare the bears.”

Tony’s hand screeched to a halt. “Are there _bears_ out here, Rogers?! What the fuck?! I told you I should have brought the armour!”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Please feel free to come visit us on tumbly: [ashes0909](http://ashes0909.tumblr.com) and [FestiveFerret](http://festiveferret.tumblr.com)


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